Sun Chips Bag: Louder Than A NYC Subway

Despite packing its product in a biodegradable bag, the sound it makes is just too much for consumers, so Frito-Lay is bagging the idea. (Photo: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBS 2) — They are easy on the environment, but hard on your ears.

Noisy bags have prompted a backlash against an eco-friendly potato chip brand.

The sound of it, the complaints about it, the he health factor … each have some thinking the popular Sun Chips brand of snacks isn’t so sunny anymore.

Since the company switched to a different, more environmentally friendly bag back in April of 2009, chip lovers have been torn.

“I mean I’m not bothered by it. I’m not sneaking out into the middle of the night, trying to hide my Sun Chip,” said Kelly Childress of Manhattan.

“We like the chips, but we don’t like the loud noise,” added Andres Guerrero.

CBS 2’s Derricke Dennis tested the noise of the bag on a subway platform, full of noise already. Shaking the bag, he got more than 100 decibels. Compare that to a lawn mover at 90 decibels, the good old subway at 94 decibels and a motorcycle at 95 decibels.

Then there was Dennis’ bag of Sun Chips that was off the charts.

“Pour ’em into a bowl; don’t eat them out of a bag you know,” Childress said.

The maker of Sun Chips had good intensions, after all this is a biodegradable bag, healthy for our environment, but not so healthy on an already loud subway.

“I find it extremely annoying. I might not buy the bag just because I don’t want to hear this in the house,” said Jacqueline Jollie of Manhattan.

She wouldn’t be alone.

Complaints about the noisy bag have been pouring into the offices of Frito-Lay. It’s even made its way to YouTube.

And the company has responded, planning to replace the loud bag on most of its Sun Chips back to the original, quieter packaging.